Gate 4, 21122012
by Baka no Healthy
Summary: The tsunami struck New York this morning. The survivals only lived through it because they were busy banging the InterArk's door on top of the Everest, or in Steve and Bucky's case, her tube gate. Tony got Pep's last call at seven a.m. the same morning. (2012 movie fusion AU)


**A/N: I'm sorry for every mistake I made in this story, because I haven't got any news from my beta yet, and English is not my first lang. Please notice me if there is any bugging you so I can fix it :3**

**Also, warning for foul mouthed dudes and probably false description of mental illnesses. I did some researches, but I have never experienced them myself, so their description in here might not be satisfying. And I think my Tony is a little bit OOC.**

* * *

**_Gate 4, 21122012._**

* * *

The tsunami struck New York this morning. The survivals only lived through it because they were busy banging the InterArk's door on top of the Everest, or in Steve and Bucky's case, her tube gate.

* * *

Tony got her last call at seven a.m. the same morning.

* * *

"Don't like the unofficial way, do you?" Bucky grinned, but didn't stop to wait. Steve decided that standing there hesitating would do no good, so he shrugged and kept pacing forward.

"The floor is wet, be careful."

"PTSD-ed scout, perfect company eh?" As foul-mouthed as he always was, Bucky's smile softened. "Wouldn't be fatal, I mean, any fall inside a tube."

Steve sighed. "We're digging our way into a giant gov ship trying not to die in the coming apocalypse, Bucky, anything is possible right now."

"Then just back up from this fight, just for once, and focus on putting your step. That'd do better than whining."

"You're the one to talk."

"Shut up kid."

* * *

"Sir, it appears that it is time to wake up."

Tony groaned, slammed his head on the desk. "Did I fucking program you to be a morning clock, JARVIS? Because I so want to slap myself back then if I really did that."

"You programmed me to be able to multitask, Sir."

"Great. Don't think I can deal with a time machine right now."

"Voice scanning shows no waver in your voice; I therefore conclude that you are capable of continue your work right now, Sir."

Tony felt slightly proud catching a glimpse of amusement in the AI's voice: though he could probably say that JARVIS was his son, his baby, the AI, just like its precedator, meant more than that to him. Maybe that was just because he had spent too much time in a lab with it, but Tony loved fun and he refused to let himself feel sad for small details such as social relationships. Except for one with_ her_-

"Message from the Captain, Sir." JARVIS cut through his wave of thoughts with an announce. Tony waved his hand.

"Tell him I'm awake. I've risen. Make it sound dramatical."

"He appears to have been awared of that fact, Sir."

Tony rolled his yeyes. "Then tell him I'm working, that'll probably shut his yaps..."

"Override 05-137," The Captain's voice suddenly rise instead of JARVIS's. "You fucking whore Stark, pick your ass up and come back here, Gate 4 has problem."

That woke the sleepy man instantly.

"I've just slept for, like, three minutes."

"Do I look like I give a fuck? Gate 4 is unresponsive, there are some filthy mice in there, debug it, because if you don't I'm so throwing you in there and leave you drown."

"OK, alright, no need to sailor up Cappy," Tony put his phone away from his ear (an incapacitated heart was bad enough thank you, no need to damage any other parts anymore), placed it on the transactional device on the desk, "I'm on it."

"Better be fast Stark, or I'll skin you-"

Tony quickly shut the Captain's voice with an order to JARVIS, "End call. JARVIS, bring the security tape and alarm."

"All ready, Sir."

The hologram shot up; the map seemed to lag for a moment before it shone steadily next to the tape. Titling his head, Tony moved it away from the bigger screen to see what was happening. The lighting system at Gate 4 had probably been damaged by leaking water, because it was damn dark down there. Something was reflexing light, making the rare glimpses of light dance through the tube-

The engineer's breath hitched. "Fuck," he muttered. "JARVIS, call Cappy right now, no, too slow, just fucking tell him that he's a fucking uneducated son of a bitch and he better send some of his SWATs down to Gate 4 and see for themselves or he'll be skinned before he can even so much as touch my hair. Also throw me what you have left of the tube's security alarm."

"The message is on its way, Sir," JARVIS's calm voice was like an anchor for Tony. "For the matter of the tube's security alarm, Sir, I believe I can only procure a heat map."

"That is nearly not even enough, J.," Tony growled. "Oh, wait, there's still a chance I can win this. Just give me whatever the hell you have, no matter how useless do you think it is."

There was a light whirring sound while the AI processed the data, then another hologram popped up. "Good luck, Sir," JARVIS singsonged.

"I have luck embedded in my chest babe."

* * *

"Somehow I still don't understand why I'm in this," Bucky rolled his eyes. Humor was a good medicine: with it in hand, it was harder to fall asleep and less likely to feel desperate. Or if the feeling was already there, it was easier to accept defeat.

But no, Steve thought, they hadn't lost yet. In fact, they had successfully entered the ship. Only that it was still cold and wet and it still felt like he was sinking-

"Brace yourself, soldier," Bucky put his left hand on his friend's shoulder, making him jump a little bit. "Hey, careful, not fatal maybe but it'd still stink as hell tripping."

"Buck, I'm fine."

"Then steady yourself and speed up."

No humor in a long minute; the two impromptu guests made their way in the tube silently. Unluckily that only made Steve think more, imagine more (damn his artistic mind, he was a soldier, he should be able to concentrate just for a moment-) and come nearer and nearer to the forbidden place in his mind, that place he had told himself repeatedly not to wander close to. Bucky and him were too lucky - they had got to the ship and even in it, while ninety-nine percent of the world's population was being left behind and half that number had died. But it wasn't right, his brain tried to remind him again and again.

_It's not right, because you didn't grab it hard enough._

"Fucking yourself over it again, Steve?" Bucky's voice pulled Steve out of his own thought so abruptly that his heart almost stopped. "Oh shit, sorry. But y'know, if you still want to bicker about how loud I am you shouldn't force me to be loud."

"I'm sorry."

"You know that's the most damn useless sentence in the world. Just tell me something about Rhodine."

That made Steve laugh, but just quietly. "Rhodin, he's a male. You sure you want to put this bomb off?"

"Sleep to death, yeah, not bad." Bucky whistled. "Ready."

Steve knew he had his grip too tight on this opportunity to distract himself to be comfortable, but Bucky's hand was on his shoulder again, and he felt real once more. They went very slowly through the tube, passing two closing gates. They didn't realise the water was rising.

* * *

"Where's your butt monkeys?" Tony snarled. "Don't answer that, I'm frustated and I tend to ask brainless people brainless questions to entertain myself."

"Peasants are trying to get onboard. Guards are trying to keep them outside."

"See, you proved yourself brainless. Now I have every right to call you that."

Five minutes hadn't fully passed and yet Tony was already feeling like banging his head on the desk. The stupid crew was making it seem to be their fault and the people outside the ship's fault all at once, but Tony knew more than to blame the people outside to ship. By every mean they were innocent.

The guards were also just doing their job. It was a stupidass job, but that statement led to the conclusion that they were also innocent.

"Sir, I suggest focusing on the problem in hand," JARVIS cooly reminded the engineer.

"Multitasking."

"Apparently, Sir."

"You are made in the US of A, J., 'times I'm terrified," Tony leaned slightly back in his chair. "Why do secu-cams in that tube have heat detector anyway? They could have just pay some more to design another type, but hell nah, they just have to make it simple. What now Busybody?"

Wilson's face expanded on the screen hologram. He looked restless and it unnerved Tony. "Things are becomin' crystal fragile here Stark. Can't connect to Gate 4 security system, latest news be lighting was damaged. No chance getting down there."

"Yeah, deduced it for myself a while ago. A long, long while." Tony took a breath, calmed himself. "Just fuck it Birdy, throw a torch in there, or light saber, at least my secu-cam still works from times to times and JARVIS is super ready to give like any kind of new, but I need fucking light to see what the hell's in there."

"Thought of it, tried, didn't work."

"Why?"

"I'm no genius, you are."

"What kind of lighting?"

"Heat radiator. Don't have anything else."

Tony stood up, the new piece of information swirling his his mind. Last time he checked, Gate 4 was still a gate, not a black hole ready to devour any kind of light. Sure there always was water leaking in, but the amount of water getting inside shouldn't be enough to dim the light, not talking about shutting it off entirely. The system was always heated up to ensure nothing could mess with its function-

"Shit", Tony breathed out, he swiftly turned around to face the heat map hovering over his phone. "JARVIS, put the latest heat map on for me."

The AI silently replace the red-yellow-and-blue picture with another one, much more blue and much less red.

"Things cooled out more than I thought," Tony bit his lower lip. "Something fucked the heater up. Contact Cappy again and tell him I got his mice."

"Sir," JARVIS announced, "Captain seems to be busy at this moment."

The new caught Tony's attention. JARVIS didn't bring him useless infos. "Putting on his cap pants?" He pulled down the screen hologram with Wilson's face still waiting patiently on it, took a look at his phone.

"No, Sir. It appeared that the main gates are crashing."

* * *

Rhodin was some times ago. Steve didn't remember much about the conversation actually, or even if he did remember something, the water had wiped it away.

"Always the voice of reason, eh, BoyScout," Bucky's breath sounded heavy. "We have spirit and humor. Enough for a lifetime."

"I'm trying to think Buck," Steve snapped unintentionally; while his body felt cold and soaked wet, his heart was racing, and the contradiction was making him nauseous. "When we was, well, saved, the colonel did say something about this ship's tube gates and how they work. This much water can't get in unless the gates aren't fully closed. Which is a big trouble."

"They have men for that kind of job, Steve," Bucky lowered his head, it was becoming harder and harder to see clearly. "Get ourselves to somewhere safe first, then let them do their tasks. Easy enough."

"But the gates wouldn't have malfunction without a cause. Colonel Phillips said they had valves or something, if we accidentally crashed anything on our way..."

"As much as I remember, you crashed nothing," Bucky stopped, grabbed Steve's shoulders with both hand. "You notice that water is rising, I find out that it's cooling down in here. We havta go quicker Steve, I won't risk it."

Steve rise his hands a little bit, but his heart was beating too damn fast, and he was starting to feel disoriented, and Bucky was there, so he dropped his hands and tried to cling to his best friend and comrade's presence again.

But as he had been aware of the temperature in the tube right now, he couldn't focus fully anymore.

* * *

Sam Wilson was gone the minute Tony remembered him. "Fuck," the engineer muttered under his breath. "JARVIS, dial Captain Fucking Cologne."

"Do you even care that I'm busy?" The Cap immediately yelled at him through the screen. "Sitting right there and enjoy yourself while me and my men are fighting to our last breath to keep unwanted guests at bay."

"No I don't, because you took away my solution," Tony paced around the room. "Give me Wilson. Or Rhodey. Rhodey is fine."

"Both are trying to keep the ship from sinking, so pick your lazy ass up and solve the problem yourself."

"I must be playing Twister since five then," Tony snapped. "Good whatever you worship, Cologne, leave the poor ass men alone and I need someone down that tube!"

"Come down there then-"

"No, Tony, he's saying nonsense," Rhodes stepped in, "stay right there wherever the fuck you are."

Tony lifted one eyebrow up.

"You know his condition Captain," Rhodes continued his speech. "He can't stand a flu. You won't want to lose the creator of this ship, he's more useful sitting in his room and breathing than dying in some tube down there."

"Friendly remind that I work out," Tony rolled his eyes.

"Trying to save your iron ass here, shut up. Did you cybernate your ass like you did your heart? If yes, I'm not surprised."

"No, still flesh and blood."

"Send him someone."

The Captain hesitated for a moment, but right before he spoke up, JARVIS jumped in. "Sorry for interrupting, Sir, but I've lost control of section 3."

Tony swore whatever came to his mind first, "Sorry dudes, mama calls. See ya later." He dismissed the screens with a halfhearted hand gesture. "JARVIS, any change detected before that part shut down?"

"Would you like another heat map, Sir?"

"Sure, why not."

The map appeared, and Tony almost splitted his lip biting on it too hard.

"Fuck, not mice, fuck," he growled, trailing his finger on the hologram. "JARVIS, do me a favor and fuck some sense in those security cams down there. At least get me a mic. A functioning one."

"On it, Sir," the AI politely said, and Tony let himself fall onto the bed with a loud 'thump'. His eyes never left the screen; the red spread on it, forming two humanoid figures.

* * *

The cold was nearly unbearable now, and Steve was struggling.

The accident was still fresh in his memory, and he knew it'd not be long until he had to give up and let it take over for a while, but he still hoped to make it to a dryer place before succumb to his own mind. The situation was bad enough, no need to put more pressure on it by freezing right here.

_Bad thinking_, he slapped himself mentally, _we're freezing and thinking about it will do not good for both of us._

The first tube gate they got through had been closing while they arrived, but now they all stopped dead. Nothing was keeping the water out; if he remembered it right, colonel Phillips had said that if even one gate wasn't closed, the whole ship would stay still on this mountain forever.

Water was climbing quickly - he was drowning to his hip now. The part Bucky and he just left must had probably been full of water up to the ceiling. Consider them lucky then.

The problem was, they were moving slower every minute now, due to the water level rising steadily. Bucky had given up on babbling and was focusing on moving forward, Steve holding on his shirt's sleeve (not really on his own will, he was about to freak out any second now). They had been seeing a light at the end of the tunnel - literally - for some, one or two minutes, shining pass a half closed tube gate; but the trip there felt too long.

Water soaked through Steve t-shirt, touched his tummy and he tried his best to ignore it.

"Almost there Scout," Bucky took his hand and held it tight. Steve was silently grateful of the heat his friend gave him through that grip.

But suddenly the water was shaking lightly, the walls were humming softly, and Bucky halted.

"Oh hi intruders, God of the Tube here," a male voice, rasped because of the wet speaker, was sent bouncing around the closed space.

"Sorry," Steve's breath stuck in his throat.

"You know what, I don't care." The speaking man's language was pretty colorful, but his voice serious. "Right now you are stuck dead in between tube gate 2 and tube gate 9, because the water has wiped my control out of the tube's third section and I can't magically make way for you anymore. At this rate you guys have, like, 'bout ten minutes before things transform fully into an aquarium. So sit down and listen to my instructions."

Bucky's brows furrowed, "Send your men down here because I have no idea what the fuck you were just muttering."

"Surprise you know how to get in by tubes then," the voice hitched slightly. "Your companion must know something."

"He doesn't really-Steve! Fuck, Steve, hey!"

When Bucky turned to Steve, his right hand had been drowned in freezing water.

_-It was so high, higher than the Empire State tower, that it made Steve's artistic sense wake up and admire._

_At the same time, his surviving sense called out for his body to run, to hide, to get out of here._

_"Shit", Bucky murmured next to him. No one did a thing. They all froze at their current place, eyes toward the glass window. The whole buiding was shaking, just lightly, like a giant elevator._

_But it didn't go up away from the wave's initiation, and the wave didn't take a detour either._

_He curled himself in front of Bucky, shielding his best friend from the shattered pieces of glass, when the water washed over - no, it didn't wash over him, the torrent swiped him off his feet, rushing toward the window behind him. A table crushed the glass before it collided with them, and after a split of a second, Steve found himself outside._

_This wasn't like falling; Steve was a soldier and he had used parachute before, this was nothing like that. He was going diagonally, the wave bringing him with it, and it was going too fast, faster than freefalling-_

_Desperation made him cling to the only heat he could feel in the water. Someone's hand - a familiar hand - touched his head briefly, and he immediately pulled at it, held on it, kept it in his own hand with all he had, and he remembered air, the force of the wave was pressing on his chest, urging him to let go of the little amount of oxygen he'd got left..._

_Then he got swept up, broke through the surface, Bucky right beside him, and he was being pulled into somewhere dry, and safe, and there was no water in there, and he could finally opened his eyes-_

_-to see her, that woman, coming toward them down there in the water._

"Steve, no, fuck it, Steve, come back here!" Bucky shook his friend's shoulders lightly, but still got no response from the young soldier. Steve's eyes were glassy, his figure trembled more and more violently, his grip on Bucky's sleeve was tightening even though Bucky didn't think he could hold on tighter.

The voice from the speaker sounded worried, to Bucky's surprise. "Panic attack? Flashback? Did he get a nasty blow before he got here? Oh shit, 'twas the tidal wave wasn't it?"

Bucky ignored the man, he brought his hands up, clapped them together, tried to warm them up. He desperately grabbed Steve's arms with them, and all of a sudden the soldier drew in a deep and shaky breath, and almost went limp.

Bucky held his friend, didn't intent to let him fall face first. "Buck-" Steve murmured absently. "D-Damn, sorry..."

"No, shut up, I got you, we're in the ship's tube," Bucky put a hand - still warm, at least warmer than Steve's skin - on Steve's front, earned a shudder from the young man. "It's kinda OK, I gotcha, breathe, yeah," he took a long, and also shaky, breath and Steve copied his action, "there, you'll be fine, we're almost there..."

"'m fine Bucky," Steve pushed Bucky's hand down. He turned his head toward where he thought the voice came from, "You, well, the God-"

"Tony. Stark. Did you really buy that joke?"

"No."

"Hoped you did." There was hesitation in the man's - Tony's - voice. "So, hey, you just got attacked by one hell of a tsunami, and you made it here. Congrats, really."

"Actually we just fled here from NY," Steve answered, shrugged. "Back to our job please."

"Oh, if you say so." Tony sure was hesitating; that was not helping. "Well, really, this one job's pretty complicated, even to a genius like me - constantly have to remind people that - and it-"

"Speed the fuck up," Bucky snarled.

"-involves swimming sixty feet back to the first tube gate and help me check out what's wrong there..."

* * *

Tony was an atheist; he followed logic. In this case logic didn't lead him to an appreciable conclusion.

The thick silence in the tube was enough proof.

There were something like white noises hovering in the air, the sound of hundreds, thousands voices, yelling, praying, begging to get in, and Tony started wanting them to shut up. It was not fair, sure, he didn't have to fight for his own life, because he was sitting comfortably here, half the lenght of this ship away from the gates. But then, that was the main principe of life. Nothing was fair.

The young man down in the tube must be the one who knew best. Tony couldn't even hear a single sound, even that of water moving around his two intruders.

"...Got it," finally one of them - the one not getting panicked - grunted. _Soldiers_, Tony thought and a sigh escaped from his lips.

"Not yet. One third of our adventure is absolutely drowned in water - according to the heat map right here, also it indicates that it's hella cold back there - so we need a Hercules-y set of lung."

He dropped it there, because continuing with 'Any thought?' or 'Any suggestion?' was just too sadistic.

After two seconds, the panicking one of the duo spoke up, "I'll go."

"Fuck no," the other immediately took the parole. But he didn't insist on taking this responsibility on himself, that meant he already knew he had no chance.

"It's either you or me, Buck," the pa-damn it, Steve if Tony didn't make any mistake, stated quietly. "They can't get their men down here, and the ship won't move if the gate's still open, and we can't risk their life sitting here and doing nothing." Tony heard a small laugh in his voice. "Furthermore, three laps around the island, remember? I'm literally a big set of lung. I'll be fine."

He didn't even mention the other's - Bucky's - chance; Bucky couldn't love swimming too much.

"That's three years ago, I can't even tell what we had last night." Bucky seemed to grit his teeth. "You are not fit for this, Steve... I'll go, if there's no other choice. Heck, there is none."

"I'm the right choice, and that's final."

"A-hem," Tony swiftly stepped in. "Ladies, I also need one of you two to operate the monitor in section 3 so I can welcome you both with some shawarma."

The two soldiers' attention must have came back to his voice, because things were once more deadly silent.

"And it's complicated. Genius complicated."

Another moment, then Steve declared, "I won."

"This doesn't count as winning," Bucky muttered, "no one wins out of stupidity, Gramp... You better come back."

Tony let out a shaky breath, fell back so he lied flat on his back on the bed. Bucky must be bear-hugging Steve; one more sentence "in pieces or what, you have to bring your ass back here, got it?" and another weary laugh came to the engineer's ear, then Steve was once more on the line.

"I'm ready, sir."

* * *

The water was not only freezing, it was thick and dark, and overall just scary.

Steve shook his head, trying to clear the negative thoughts clouding it._ Humor and spirit, feed yourself on it_, like Bucky said. But again, this situation is humorless. He tried fruitlessly to keep himself from trembling - not just shivering, but waves and waves of shudder, shaking his body real bad. Water was rising around him, right now it had reached his collarbones, and he knew it would not stop anytime soon.

He revised Tony's instruction in his head (being alone in the tube, he felt like any sound was out of place): dive in, look for the door, open it, find the valves, the problem should be right there, observe it and come back to report it. The genius had, in some way, revived two security cameras back in section 6, so Steve could come back really fast and take advices on what to do.

He stepped on the lower door to section 9; water was everywhere, _the torrent_- he gritted his teeth, blocked the flashback out, checked the flashlight (whatever it was made of, it was for emergency and wouldn't shut down when dipped in water). He tied his shoelace to its end, made it into a neckwear, put it on, then taking in a deep breath, he dived.

* * *

"Sir, another message from Captain Cologne," JARVIS announced. Tony snapped irritatedly, "Yeah, leave it there, life or death situation here, see" and turned back to the blueprint.

"So it probably needs preheat then..." He spoke softly, then rise his voice a little bit, "Fridge Soldier, there's a hidden door somewhere around you, there's some fuel or flammable things in there, give it a shot and dry the babe's pants out."

There was only the sound of water moving, and then of a door sliding open, then there was total silence, and finally the sound of fire eating on whatever it was set to.

"Owe me a shirt, you got that ?" Tony heard Bucky grunted. He answered cooly, "Duly noted, Fridge. Drying the machine?"

"On it."

"Great. That should at least give us light and control over the gate."

There was only the fire cackling on the other side, then Bucky spoke up, "You have someone out there?"

Tony guessed he must be eyeing the shirt-torch while posing the question - damn, he hated not being able to see things by himself. He hated having to rely on someone else's ears and eyes, to be passive. That was just not his way of doing things.

He remembered the inhumane cold he felt just this morning, when he leaned on the chair's back, trying to digest the new.

"One." He said simply.

"I have none," Bucky replied just as silently. "Except for him."

"What happened to you on the way here?"

"We got scooped up by one colonel Phillips. Steve almost saved another one, but she got swept away."

Tony looked to the closed window, "The good ol' Phillips to the rescue."

"You know him?"

"My old man knows him. Knew him."

"He told us how to get in. Dunno why."

"That's how he is."

"Life's a disappointment."

"Life's one big injustice."

Tony stood up from the bed and started pacing around the room again, when the Captain's voice broke hic mood, "Security override 05-137." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Nice to meet you Cappy," picking up every bit of patience left in him, he open his mouth to say hi.

"You get this ship start right now bastard," Captain Cologne snarled, "or I'll skin you for real."

"Have a nice day Cappy."

"No, fuck no, wait right fucking there-"

"End call." Tony waved his hand. "J., just fucking block Cappy's ass out, no more override of any kind. Didn't get a signal yet, you dried it good Fridge?"

"Yeah, I think. Light's up." Bucky actually sounded relieved. "What next?"

"Still get no signal, is it JARVIS?"

"It appears that your statement's correct, Sir." The AI responded politely.

"That means we still have works to do. Hell, I may just throw myself down there, consequences be damned."

"May I have the right to remind you, Sir," JARVIS chirped, "that your lungs are still healing from the last flu you got and your heart would stop any moment has the temperature dropped?"

"Hell of an AI, isn't it," Bucky seemed to be grinning. Tony muttered "traitor" before pulling up the monitor's hologram. Right when he opened his mouth to tell Bucky the next step, Steve's voice bounced off of the speaker.

"A cable is stuck, sir," the soldier reported, briefly and breathlessly. "I suppose we only have to detache it from the valve."

Tony didn't even know he had held his breath until he let it escape quietly. "Ace class, ScoutBoy. We have about five minutes left."

"Got it, sir."

"Stop sir-ing me, I'm not a soldier." Tony tried to ignore the tremble in Steve's voice. "Tony's fine."

That did get him a breathless laugh from the young man, "Okay... Tony."

* * *

Steve dived again. This time, he had known his limits, and he was ready.

The valves were supposed to be protected inside a safeglass coffin, but something - must be a collision before Steve and Bucky got in the ship - had shattered it, and left the valves vulnerable. A cable fallen from the ceiling had gotten caught in one valve, kind of incapacitated it. His job was to get the cable out.

Easier said than done. The cable was big - it was near impossible to untangle it.

Images drifted pass Steve's vision while he was on his trip toward the valve, images of a city demolished with perfection, of the wave, of pieces of glass, of a hand flailing desperately. He pushed them away: he had one job.

His flashlight sent the chilling rays of blueish light to the room underwater; Steve felt trapped in this closed space even though he had never had claustrophobia. It was just too easy to see that there was no other escape, he only had one way out, and that fact made him feel passive and helpless.

Once inside, he realised that in here water _moved_. Not just wavering around the same place; the water in here actually circulated. The torrent stroked his cheek lightly, made him shudder.

Swinging his arms to feel more in control of his own movement, he pushed himself forward.

_The woman's wailing-_

He reached toward the cable and put his hand on it. It was cold - _she was cold to the touch _- and slippery -_ he couldn't hold on to her-_

Steve pulled on the cable. His hand slipped away, and at the same time, so as his mind-

_Nothing was fast enough to escape from the woman's lips save for a bubbling "help". Steve clung onto her just like he had previously clung to his savior's arm. There was nothing on his mind anymore - no cold, no weariness, no fear - only the thought of _pull her up, get her out of the water_, and he was focusing on that thought, so hard that he didn't notice his own situation-_

_Her hand was slipping away, he was crushing her small hand in his, but even that wasn't enough-_

_Another wave was coming, rushing toward them-_

_The cold only bit him for a second, but it was almost unbearable. It felt like his right arm was torn away from his body, and maybe he had screamed, he didn't recall if he had screamed or not, but at the same time he felt her hand battered out of his, and he instinctively move his body toward her, trying to catch her one more time. The helicopter tipped to the right, and he was one milimeter from the water, but someone's - Bucky's - hands grab his upper arm, yanked him back in-_

_And everything came rushing back to him - fear and cold and hurt and desperation and it was drowning him and he couldn't breathe-_

Steve broke to the surface hastily, his breath hitched and hushed, his hair damped to his front, and it was cold, too cold-

"Breathe, Steve," A glitched voice was speaking to him, and it sounded soothing, so he listened to it. "You're up, I heard it, breathe, in, one... out, two..."

Steve's breaths slowed down bit by bit, until he breathed at a regular pace again. "Took half a minute," the machine voice - Tony's voice - remarked, sounded impressed. "You're a fucking fish Steve. Now slow down a bit and tell me what did you see."

"The cable-" Steve started, but Tony dismissed it.

"I know cables, I'm asking you what did you see. Can't let you dive in there fruitlessly like this again."

It took the young soldier one beat or two to process the question, then he stuttered, "Her hand was small... and her hair blond."

It didn't make sense, but Tony was quiet.

* * *

It was now Tony's turn to feel cold seeping up his back. He had a Science God, and that Science God was saying that _just a coincidence_, and he believed it, but he still didn't know what to say.

"Sir, according to your own calculation, we have four minutes left," JARVIS reminded him. "On another note, I've just got a weak signal from section 3's monitor."

Tony sat down on his bed.

"Sir, your heart seems to be beating too fast."

Tony covered his face with his hand.

"Give me the next step Stark," Bucky said from somewhere (it seemed to be far, far away from him), "almost done."

"Tony?" Steve was also calling out. "I'm going back in there."

"Shut up, shut up," Tony muttered, pressed the balls of his hands to his eyes. It might even not be her, blondes with small, delicate hands were not exactly rare, but he couldn't help feeling like...

He felt the cold embrace him, his breath caught in his throat, and he wanted to cry all of a sudden.

"Tony?" Steve was calling him again, hell, he should stand up and finish his job, become the hero, but he could not bring himself to. "Sorry I mentioned that. Damn, our jobs are not done yet."

Tony already knew that, he wanted to snap at the young man for stating the obvious, but his voice was just not there. "Fuck, sorry, just let me be-"

"We have three minutes left, Sir," JARVIS said, and Tony felt a sudden tremble from the ship.

It felt like he had lost her once more.

"Fuck it all, Tony Stark," Bucky barked, "pick your ass up!"

Tony removed the hands covering his eyes, when JARVIS announced, "Security override 05-347."

"I'ma ask now Tony," Rhodey'voice suddenly filled the room, "what the fuck were you doing? Things are real messy here, we need help, fire the princess up, find a way to do it!"

Tony didn't heard him, because the white noises were here once more - thousands of voices, yelling, begging, pleading - and he felt drowned himself. He pulled at his hair desperately.

Steve suddenly spoke up. " There are too many people outside," he said quietly.

"Thousands," Tony answered.

"Tony, how many people can this ship contain?"

"In theory it is already full, but I'm the risky type-"

"I'll dive in once more," the soldier's voice suddenly hardened. "Get them all in. We can do it."

Tony sat quietly on the bed, eyed the monitor hologram absentmindedly.

"She'll be the last lost," Steve steeled his own determination.

Tony stood up.

* * *

The trip - could be the last trip, but Steve didn't let himself think of that case - felt too short. Might be because he was more lucid now, or because he did swim faster. But it only took him twenty seconds to get to the valve.

_The woman was out of his sight too fast, his hand felt cold, Bucky had water in his lungs but he had forced it all out and he was coughing, and something was draped around him, but was not enough-_

The cable was still there, twisting and clinging to the valve. Steve took in the situation quickly, tried to find a way to detache it.

_Left, down, left, left again_, he planned in his head. Simple constructions brought him confidence - he could do this.

The water shook around him, more and more violently, but he ignored it, this was of more importance...

_"Name?" The pilot asked them. Bucky answered, "Barnes and Rogers."_

_"Phillips, Colonel Phillips."_

His hand reached to the cable - wet and cold and slippy even in the water - and he dived further down, pulled the tip down through the knot, untangled it.

The valve moved slightly.

Steve's lungs were convulsing, or maybe that was only him, but he could hear them demand for air, for oxygen, but he forced the thought down and moved the cable. One round then another, the cable let go slowly (he thought it was too slow) of its grip on the valve, and the valve's movement was more and more visible - it was growing higher, gave way for water to come out of the room, of the tube-

The water shook violently. It suddenly tipped to one side, and Steve was swiped away from the valve.

_No_, the panic hit him full force, _no, there's still time, it can't be this soon, calm down, you have one job..._ He swam back to the valve, grabbed the cable with all his might, when the room tipped again, and the new torrent pulled him back, and the cable was out of the valve with a 'pop'-

More water rushed in the room.

The valve might not be enough.

* * *

"Get them all in," Tony told the Captain. He received the exact response he expect.

"The fuck you saying Stark? Stop fucking around and fire the ship up."

"Get them all in, or no ship for you."

"Fuck you. No one's gonna get in. Get the ship moving."

"You know what?" Tony snapped. "Fine. You save none of them, I save none of you. I had a promise Cappy, and I ain't breaking it."

"The ship is unstable! You might kill all of us!"

"I'm going to kill all of us right now, so if you don't want your cap ass to get wet, let them in."

"I can see the wave coming right now, do your fucking job Stark!"

Tony eyed the phone furiously. "End call."

The wave was visible now. He could feel it and smell its oceanic smell in the air. He had never been a seaside person (he was a lab person, if that term even existed), and he didn't feel a thing for the sunny beaches, but he was still in Florida every summer just because she demanded so...

_"Because it's good for your health," she crossed her arms, her hair a hypnotizing blond mess-_

He shook his head. "J., where the hell is all my whiskey?"

"You have consumed all the whiskey we've got, Sir," the AI said, a hint of sadness in its voice. Tony knew it was not because of the lack of alcoholic drinks.

"Security override 05-347," Rhodes' voice boomed. "The wave's coming Iron Ass."

"I lost this fight," Tony mumbled, "you guys won't let the damn citizens in."

"What?"

"Steve's down there and fixing things, but still a losing fight, and there's no shawarma for them after this."

"Yell if you can't speak normally."

"_LET THE FUCKING CITIZENS IN!_" Tony slammed his fist on the bed. "JARVIS, GET ME A FUCKING MEGAPHONE OR WHATEVER, SO I CAN SHOVE IT UP THEIR ASSES AND ROAR IN IT THAT THEY HAVE TO LET THE CITIZENS IN!"

Rhodes sounded surprised. "The ship's-"

"-fucking unstable or whatever word you want Rhodey, I designed her, thank you, but your job now is to get them all the fuck in. Done it and I'll fire the InterArk up."

A moment of silence, then Rhodes breathed out, "On it."

"Sir, we've got stable signal from section 3."

Tony turned his head toward the hologram on his right. "Nice job Fridge. JARVIS, bring me the view." The screen popped up, showing a grunting man - same age with Steve, probably - looking at the security camera.

"Call me what the hell you want but Fridge."

"Winter Soldier? How was the sound of it? Too Russian?"

"Is Steve done?"

"No signal from him yet-"

Tony's room shook, his phone slipped from the desk and fell to the floor, and all the holograms disappeared.

* * *

Steve held desperately on the tube gate. It was closing, but not fast enough, and water rushed in, threatened to push him back.

No oxygen for him yet.

* * *

"The gates was steadily closing, Sir," JARVIS announced. Tony clung to the chair's back, but even the chair was sliding slightly across the room.

"Rhodey? Wilson?" He called. There were sounds and visions, but none of them gave an appropriate answer.

"The fuck's Steve doing down there?" Bucky yelled. Tony couldn't think of anything to response.

* * *

Suddenly, there was no more rushing water.

* * *

Steve broke the surface and pulled himself up again. Thinngs were still shaking and he felt nauseous staying too long (at least he felt like it was too long) in water. But there was a surface to break through now. There was air inside the tube.

The temperature was still freezingly low, but water was leaking away, lowing, giving him space. He kept himself floating, thought of a way to get out of this section. The tube gates were all closed while he was busy steadying himself.

The water disappeared faster and faster, leaving the young man standing on the wet ground. The flashlight blinked lightly.

Steve eased himself to a sitting position on the ground - he still felt cold, but he also felt steadier and less likely to pass out. Soon they'd have to open the gates and he'd get his chance to come in.

A rasped voice made him jump a little bit, "Steve?"

Steve closed his eyes, leaned back lightly. His breath was still fast, but too quiet.

"Yoohoo, soldier, you there? Genius to Eagle, you hear me?"

"Silence," Steve muttered, and after some blank seconds, he heard Tony laughed.

* * *

"He's alive." Tony turned away to face the two other screens. Bucky let out a sigh and sat down heavily, while Rhodes and Wilson stayed confused.

"There are someone down there?"

"Yes, peasants," the engineer breathed, "and in case it still hasn't gotten through your thick skull yet, they're V.I.P.s. They are intruders, but they are my V.I.P.s. So send a matching band down to Gate 4 and haul them in. One is probably freezing his ass off in section 9, the other is right at section 3, make sure they get medical treatment and shawarma. I promised them that."

"That's the promise you said you made?" Rhodes asked, sounded amused.

"No," Tony smiled, "but I'm true to my words. All citizens in?"

"Not one left out."

"One shawarma to you as well Rhodey."

* * *

Steve stood hesitantly at the door, when a voice announced solemnly, "Sir, Mr. Rogers is here." Before he could process the evenement, the door had slided open, reveal a total mess inside the room.

"Rhum?" Tony called out from the desk. Steve shook his head.

"No thanks. You must be Tony Stark?"

"We meet, at last," the engineer grinned.

"Nice to meet you."

"Oh, hey, hey, we've past the politeness period, haven't we?" Tony laughed. He shut the holograms back in the phone, then turned his chair to face Steve. "We saw each other getting our ass handed to us, that's enough to bond a bunch of monkeys together."

"You've been drinking since last night?"

"Yeah. You guys were a surprise."

Steve looked around the man's room. There was not a single book in the shelf, neither was there any photo. To sum it up, there were only bottles on the ground and a phone in Tony's hand, nothing else.

"Just been here for two days," Tony shrugged, reading Steve's face. "Nothing much for me. My life has mostly been JARVIS and whiskey."

"You miss her?"

"You're dumb," Tony huffed a laugh. "'Course I miss her."

"I'm sorry."

"Shut up, not your fault."

Steve looked Tony in the eye, "You've not left your room much."

"Nope, fragile cute puppy man here. My AI JARVIS - you have met him, yeah? Yeah - decided that my heart was still weak after putting this babe," Tony pointed at the light shining through his shirt, "in my chest, so he's not gonna let me leave."

Steve moved his eyes to look at where Tony was pointing at. "Must hurt real bad."

"Not really, they knocked me out first, people always do that to you. But she was there- Pep was there. She's my gorgeous CEO and caretaker."

"She's back beside God," Steve smiled. Tony pushed one eyebrow up.

"Atheist."

"Christian. I don't really know, but it does good things to me."

"Religious are weighed with the apocalypse."

"Atheists have to question themselves over their death."

"Okay, I'm not settled here to pull up this kind of conversation," Tony rolled his eyes. "Real nice to meet you Steve."

Steve hung his head. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, look, I'm drinking. You said she was back beside God, keep that in mind. Let me mourn her by myself, get out, Bucky's looking for you."

The young soldier stood up, made his way to the door hesitantly. Finally, he turned his head toward Tony. "Thank you," he said softly.

Tony placed the bottle on the desk, "For what?"

"For saving us. For shawarma, everything." Steve shrugged. "Thank you, St-_Tony_."

"Yeah," Tony smiled, "watch out for the door. It's cold."

The young man laughed, his hand already on the door, his breath still even; then the door slided open again and he left.

Tony looked out from the glass window. They'd opened the windows this morning, though there was nothing much to watch except for the immense ocean outside. He had never really been a seaside person.

"We're approaching Africa, Sir," JARVIS singsonged.

Tony's smile broadened a little bit. "Ace class weather," he hummed.

* * *

_**End**_

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story, and if you have anything to say, please review right the way!**


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